Yeah, supersetting really gets the heart pumping. In about a week I'll be changing my set structure to 4 excercises per superset, in a 5x6 set structure. I'll do that for two weeks before beginning my cycle over again. The exhaustion these giant supersets induce makes it difficult to focus as clearly, so I usually lower my weights a bit to keep myself from getting hurt.

I took yesterday off because my shoulder was still hurting a bit. I knew I wouldn't be able to do overhead presses like that. My chest was really sore, which is unusual for the day after. Usually it's the second day after the workout that I get sore.

As for tonights workout; Many of these weights are new as of last week. I am getting comfortable with them and trying to be as strict as possible with my form. I did quite a few dips tonite. I'm sure this is a personal best. The last time I could do anywhere near this many reps, I was weighing closer too 180lbs. I REALLY need a dip belt!!!

I was not very motivated today, but I sucked it up and worked really hard. I'm really happy about squatting 4x8 with 215lbs. That last set was brutal... I have never come so close to failure as I did on the last rep.

When I was warming up, I was amazed at how light 135lbs is starting to feel. Unfortunately, 215lbs still feels ridiculously heavy.

I'm also pretty happy about my Straight-Leg Deadlift. I'm pretty sure 4x8 with 185lbs is a personal best as well. This is by far my most dreaded superset. My forearms are so fatigued as I near the end of the Lunges that most of my mental focus goes into my grip, not my legs.

I don't go super heavy on the Plate Loaded Incline Leg Press Machine, but I do go pretty deep (legs touching chest at bottom of rep). These were surprisingly hard... my legs were really rocked from those squats and lunges.

Earlier in the day, I strained my left wrist which is making me a little nervous about my chest/back workout tomorrow... Hopefully it will be all better tomorrow morning!!!

Flat Pressing 90lb DBs is a PB for me! I did my one-arm DB rows on the flat bench tonite so I could get extra strict. I always pause for a moment at the top of each rep, and avoid using momentum, but lately when I've been doing these, I've been using the DB rack as support.

Palms-in incline press seemed really hard! I usually do incline press first, then flat press. I decided to switch it up tonite. Good numbers on everything else tonite. Overall, I'm happy with my progress.

Standing Calf Machine: 8 sets of 15 with 120lbs (only made 13 on last set)
(60 seconds rest between each set)

Some guy nabbed the empty squat rack just as I was walking in the room, then proceeded to set it up with 225lbs and do 6 reps of 1/3 squats.

Then he walks over to the Smith machine and starts setting it up...

I ask if he's done with the squat rack and he replies "he, he, I'm too lazy to squat tonite." I reply by asking "Are you also too lazy to clean up?". I normally wouldn't have said anything but there is something about guys who do 1/3 squats that just annoys the hell out of me. Especially when their next excercise includes a Smith Machine.... LOL

I feel better now that I've vented.

So the other day when I was doing regular squats I noticed that my stance wasn't much narrower than when I'm doing Wide-Stance "Ballet-Squats". Tonite I made a real effort to widen my stance a bit. I wasn't able to lift quite as much weight this way, but my legs weren't about to buckle inward like they were last week . Have I mentioned how much I love supersetting squats and lunges?

I was pretty rocked after that, and was very happy to be doing excercises that involved sitting down. I am making slow but steady progress on the leg-extension machine. I do this one without momentum and hold the contraction for 1 second at the top. I think I will be able to move up weight on the seated ham curl next workout. There's only three more plates before this machine is maxed out. I guess I'll start doing it with one leg at a time when I max it out.

I was planning on trying 95lb dumbbells tonite for my DB Squats, until I discovered that my gym only has DBs in 5lb increments up to 90lbs. The rest are in 10lb increments (100,110,120). "Oh, well, I guess I'll try the 100lb ones..." I tried saying "ain't nuttin but a peanut" (in my head of course) but they didn't seem any lighter. Also tried "ain't nothing to it but to do it". That was slightly more effective, but not outrageusly so. Bottom line: I made my 4 sets of 8 reps. Thats 20lbs heavier than my old PB for this excercise. Yeah buddy.

Knocked out the calf raises with strict 60 second rest periods.

I am starting to see some improvement in my legs, which is nice. I have a goal of squatting 225lbs for 4x6 reps. I think I may reach this goal within two weeks. I've been moving up in weight every week, but these are just numbers, and that's not nearly as motivating as seeing my muscles grow.

Today I began the last part of my 6-week workout cyle. It will last two weeks, and I am doing a 5x6 set structure, supersetting four excercises at a time.

The entire workout took less than 60 minutes (40 sets total). I was totally rocked, but the pace of the lifting was so hectic I didn't even have time to realize it until I was done. I was sure that I would end up dropping my weights more than this, but I managed to keep them relatively high (for me anyways ).

My palms started sweating two hours before my workout! I was really nervous about trying that weight. I can't believe I made 3 sets of 6!!! I think I will remember this day forever. I never do 1-rep max excercises, so this really is the first time I've ever squatted that much weight.

After my first three sets at 225, I dropped the weight to 205 and started creeping just below parallel for the last two sets. I've been reading some articles about how it's less hard on your back if you go past parallel, so I thought I'd give it a go. It really did seem much easier on the back as I was beginning the upward phase of the lift!

The first giant superset was however, totally brutal! I was sure that I would need to drop weight on the Straight-Leg Deadlifts and Lunges, but somehow I managed. Luckily the gym was pretty empty and some guys were deadlifting near the squat rack with the right weight for me to jump in while they were resting.

Had new PB weights on the Plate Loaded Leg Press and One-Leg Ham Curl machine. I am making sure my legs touch my chest each rep on the leg press, so my weights aren't very high. Then there's also the fact that my legs were already fried from those first 20 sets.

I've been doing a lot of physical activity for the past couple days, so I did not have much energy for working out. Somehow made it to the gym last night, even though I was pretty tired.

I played with my grip and arm angles a little bit on the flat and incline presses to try to get really intense contractions. My chest is a bit sore today which is nice. The DB rows with 90lbs are starting to feel a little light, even when practiced with controlled movement and pause at the top of each rep. I think I will try a 100lb DB next time I do those.

I was working in with another guy on the cable crossover machine, and he kept changing the height (incline, decline, regular). I find myself varying my routine on the fly if necessary in order to keep up the pace of the supersets. I only needed an incline bench and flat bench to do my first superset, but the second one required four different stations, so I was running all over the place.

I really worked hard to keep the rest periods between sets short. I completed 40 working sets in 50 minutes! I wasn't lifting incredibly heavy, but the intensity was definitely there...

The only excercise I upped the weight on was upright rows. Like last night, I kept the rest periods very short. Even though I've done these weights before, it only took about 75% as much time to complete the same amount of work when I did it tonite. I watched the clock throughout the workout to pace myself. Like last night, the whole workout took 50 minutes.

This is typically the type of improvement I see in the last two weeks of this program. My weights don't go up, but I am able to complete the same amount of work in much less time.

I really enjoy watching the looks on peoples faces as they watch me complete four excercises in the time it takes them to do one set.

Tomorrow is another leg day. I'm thinking of experimenting with ATG squats instead of just going to parallel. I've never tried them before, and I'm interested to see how they feel.

My lower back felt really weird (in a bad way) yesterday... All day I was debating whether to postpone my leg workout, or just substitute hack squats and leg press for the squats I had planned.

I decided to wait a day so I could do real squats!

Went as wide as I've ever gone on the Wide-Stance "Ballet" Squats. I'm getting pretty deep too... I'm pretty sure the top of my quads were about 1" below the top of my knees for every rep. (I don't have a spotter, and that is my best estimate from what I could see in the mirror ). I never really felt comfortable with these in the past. The narrow stance squat always felt much more natural for me. Tonight, I was starting to find a groove that worked for me with the wide-stance. My inner quads definitely feel the difference.

Hit some new numbers on the leg-extension and ham-curl machines. Probably could have done the higher weight for all sets, but I would have had to increase my rest period even longer, which I didn't want to do.

So tonight I figured out that my gym does in fact have DBs in 5lb increments up to 120lbs... They're just missing the 95lb DBs, which threw me off. With this knowledge in hand, I decided to see how far I could go with the DB squats.

I ended up doing 2 sets of 6 reps with 115lb DBs! My previous PB for this was 100lb DBs, and I just reached that last week. At 230lbs total, this is the most weight I've ever lifted for reps, for any free-weight excersise. This has got me thinking that I need to try regular deadlifts soon just to see how much I can lift. I wouldn't have to go nearly as far down before the plates hit the ground (as opposed to DB squats), so I'd probably be able to do 275-300lbs for reps. Hmmmm....

Workout took 60 minutes total, including warm-up set. Could have done it faster, but I would have had to drop some weights.

I couldn't make it to the gym yesterday before they closed, so I had yet another day off. Should be back on track now that the holidays are over.

My gym was super dead, so I didn't have anyone competing for space/benches/DBs/etc... After collecting all the DBs necessary for my first superset and setting them up around the benches I was going to be working on, it struck me that I am playing with some heavy ass dumbbells these days. (for me anyways )

The One-Arm Row with 100lb DB is a personal best. Did six reps with really nice controlled form and pause at top. Other than that, I didn't really lift super heavy today, but I did tear through the workout really fast.

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